


Catch a Tiger

by MuffinLance



Series: Kindling AU [2]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Gen, Jet doesn't really see a need to, Kindling au, Sokka is having to re-evaluate his general world view, Zuko is not having a good time, in which firebenders aren't immune to heat or flame, military!Zuko, not even a little
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-18
Updated: 2020-05-18
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:01:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,645
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24246931
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MuffinLance/pseuds/MuffinLance
Summary: "Guys," Aang said, "I think he needs help."Obnoxious Teenager briefly took out his mouth-grass. He stared down at the injured firebender. He smiled. "We'll take care of him."In retrospect, it was pretty ominous.
Relationships: Sokka & Zuko (Avatar), The Gaang & Zuko (Avatar)
Series: Kindling AU [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1746664
Comments: 218
Kudos: 6321





	Catch a Tiger

**Author's Note:**

> Kindling AU fanart! 
> 
> [crayuu's fantastic Kindling!Zuko](https://muffinlance.tumblr.com/post/618318312094449664/crayuu-kindling-au-zuko-and-muffinlances-fault)  
> [mistical52's study on arm scars](https://muffinlance.tumblr.com/post/618283750137167872/id-color-drawing-of-a-firebenders-scar-dotted)

So they were in this forest, right? And everything was red. The leaves were red. The Fire Nation soldiers they'd just stumbled into were red. The obnoxious teenager who posed dramatically in a tree before helping was red.

Also red: the fire as these guys fought back. They weren't all benders—it wasn't like firebenders were  _ common— _ but there were more of them than Sokka was expecting in a random tiny camp. And wow had he forgotten  _ how much fire _ even one of these people could make.

"You  _ idiots," _ one of the firebenders shouted. At his own guys. He had a huge giant facial scar and the scary scowl to match. "Stop—" 

And then one of the wooden barrels (not red) detonated (very red) and Shouty Scar Guy did something swirly with his hands to break up the flames. This was probably meant to save his own people more so than Sokka, but Sokka was just about to Sneak Attack a guy, so. Collateral saving happened.

A fireless boom, as it turned out, was still a  _ boom. _

_ "Sergeant!" _ one of the firebenders shouted. 

The blood trickling down Scar Guy's face after he slammed into a tree was red as any color Sokka had ever bled. Which was a mild surprise. A firebender, bleeding red, like some kind of actual human-person.

Anyway, by the time Sokka's ears stopped ringing and the world stopped spinning, the other soldiers were gone. Obnoxious Teenager was still here. Katara was fawning over Obnoxious Teenager. Aang was fawning over the firebender's corpse—

"Guys," Aang said, "I think he needs help."

Or not-so-corpse. 

Obnoxious Teenager briefly took out his mouth-grass. He stared down at the injured firebender. He smiled. "We'll take care of him."

In retrospect, it was pretty ominous.

%%%

Sokka did not completely appreciate having Jet's arm around his shoulders. But he  _ did _ appreciate being trusted with Manly Things.

"Aang and Katara," Jet said, "wouldn't understand. But you're a man of your tribe; you know sometimes things need to be done."

Sokka puffed out his chest, because he  _ did _ know that, and it was nice to have a little recognition that was not in the form of making fun of his  _ instincts. _ "This is about the firebender, isn't it?"

"You catch on fast, too," Jet smirked. 

They weren't  _ taking care of  _ the firebender in the way Aang had probably wanted. But Aang had the follow-through of a flutter-gnat sometimes. Not like Sokka. Sometimes things  _ did _ need to be done.

The Freedom Fighters were keeping the ashmaker outside of their highly combustible tree fort. Sokka approved.

They'd stripped him out of his armor, and tied him hand and foot. Sokka continued to approve.

(Scar Guy looked a lot smaller without the armor. A lot closer to their age. Sokka neatly compartmentalized that in the same box as 'seal-fox pups were objectively adorable, but their baby fur made for  _ amazing  _ mitten lining.')

The bender was kneeling. Jet crouched down in front of the guy, took out his mouth-grass, and smirked. "Have you tried burning through the ropes yet? You've still got your arms, so I'm going to say 'no.'"

And hey, those ropes  _ were _ kind of glistening weirdly, and there was a smell in the air like the moment before a  _ boom.  _

"We dipped them in blasting jelly," Jet said, holding Scar Guy's gaze but talking to Sokka. "Turns out even ashmakers don't like to burn themselves  _ that _ badly."

Scar Guy glared. But he didn't say anything.

"Heard them call you sergeant," Jet said, and now he  _ was _ talking to Scar Guy. "Never caught us a  _ sergeant _ before." 

"You," Scar Guy enunciated clearly, past the obvious headwound with its caked-on blood and the slight slur to his words, "are a moron."

Jet put back in his mouth-grass, and stood. Winked at Sokka. Turned to the little fire Pipsqueak was tending. Which, now that Sokka stopped to think, was clearly not about warmth or comfort or cooking, the way fires back in the South Pole were.

The Duke wasn't here, Sokka noted. None of the younger kids were. Sokka approved, in kind of an uneasy way. But some things Had To Be Done.

"Did you know," Jet said, very conversationally, "a lot of ashmakers are scared of their own element?"

Scar Guy was taking in deep probably-meant-to-be-calming breaths even before Jet pulled a stick out of the fire. Which made their prisoner a little quicker on the uptake than Sokka.

"That's why they keep them sheltered so much. Most superior element? More like the most pampered element. What do you think, sergeant?"

Jet crouched back down, the fire-tipped stick gripped lazily in one hand. As intimidation tactics went, it was  _ really effective.  _ Maybe too effective. Scar Guy was breathing shallow and fast now, and not really making any move to back away even though nothing was stopping him. He was just… staring at the flame, like it was a lot bigger than it was.

"Bet you know all kinds of interesting things,  _ sergeant," _ Jet said.

Scar Guy had lost the tie to his shirt somewhere, and Sokka was no longer sure that leaving all that skin exposed was an accident of removing his armor. Not when Jet was still smirking and moving that stick closer to his chest, which admittedly wouldn't really show one more burn scar, and the guy  _ still  _ wasn't moving— 

But Sokka was. He grabbed the back of the firebender's shirt collar and jerked him away, which came as a surprise to both of them. And to Jet, too.

"Sokka," he said, smiling around that mouth-grass. "I thought you understood."

"I do," Sokka said, and did  _ not _ like the way his voice broke in the middle. "But you haven't even asked him anything yet." 

"I was just going to loosen him up a bit first. Ashmakers have a pretty high pain tolerance."

"Maybe start with the friendly questions, and work your way up to the searing of human flesh? Just a suggestion."

Jet smiled all friendly-like. Which Sokka was starting to realize was not friendly at all. "All right. We'll try it your way. So what were you doing in our forest, ashmaker?"

Scar Guy had briefly glanced up when Sokka had first grabbed him, his creepy-gold eyes wide. Now Sokka's grip on his shirt was the only thing stopping him from falling over backwards, but the only thing he had eyes for was that teenie-tiny little flame.

"What's the blasting jelly for?" Jet continued.

Sokka really wasn't sure Scar Guy was listening. Or  _ hearing,  _ for that matter. The heartbeat against the back of Sokka's hand sped up as Jet wiggled that little fire closer to the guy's face, and then the firebender wasn't  _ breathing—  _

Sokka jerked him another foot back, and he really did fall over. "Okay. Okay, I am… taking this prisoner for Team Avatar. Aang will, uh. Have his own questions for him. And. Airbenders have all kinds of ways to get information, you'd really be surprised—"

Jet's eyes narrowed. His smile didn't. "...Sure thing, Sokka." 

%%%

Sokka had freed the guy's legs long enough to march him over to Camp Avatar. Current occupants: one sky bison, one flying lemur, one Sokka, and one firebending teenager he wasn't sure had noticed when he'd put the rope back  _ on. _ He was just kind of laying where Sokka had put him. 

But the guy was blinking more. And also breathing again. So. That was… good?

If a more alert firebender could be classified as 'good'.

"You with me?" Sokka asked.

The guy mumbled something.

"Didn't quite catch that, buddy."

Scar Guy tottered his way back upright. Which was actually pretty impressive with his hands behind his back and a clear lack of any sense of balance at this point in time. "Sorry. Thought I was done with kneeling while assholes held fire to my face. Apparently not, so that's great. ...Sorry."

Huh. That was… huh. Sokka tried not to be the guy who stared at the giant facial wound, but it was pretty hard not to. 

"So you didn't…?"

"Fireball my own face?" the ashmaker said. 

And yeah, that did sound stupid now that the guy said it. But hey, the irritation seemed to be helping him focus. Because a focused firebender was definitely what Sokka wanted, and would Appa  _ please _ stop staring in their direction with his giant bison eyes, and he should definitely  _ not _ keep shuffling closer, the last thing Sokka wanted to explain to Aang was how he'd gotten the fluffball fire-shaved. 

"What are you waiting for?" Scar Guy asked.

Sokka stopped having a stare-off with the bison. "Uh. What?"

"Killing me. What are you waiting for?" the guy stared at Sokka's face for a long moment, then scoffed. "You've never killed before."

"Yes I have," Sokka squawked. "I will have you know that I'm the premier hunter in the Southern Water Tribe. Walrus-moose are a  _ lot  _ harder to kill than people."

"Wouldn't know," the guy said, holding Sokka's gaze with those predator-gold eyes. "I've only killed people."

And that was just. That was lovely. And kind of a clear provocation, when Sokka stopped to think about it, so he narrowed his eyes.

"And  _ why _ are you trying to hurry along the killing part?"

"I'd rather it was you than the Mouth-Grass Terrorist."

Sokka snerked, because  _ Mouth-Grass Terrorist.  _ Then he coughed into his hand, because He Was The One In Charge Okay. 

"Why were  _ firebenders _ transporting  _ blasting jelly, _ anyway?"

"Because our command chain is ninety percent nepotism?" The guy shrugged. Looked away. Briefly lost his train of thought when he found Momo sitting two feet from him and looking  _ back,  _ and really, did  _ none _ of these animals have basic self-preservation instincts? "...We were getting transported, too. To our new division. Apparently there are rebels in this forest." 

The guy's deadpan was absolutely perfect. Sokka hid his snort behind a glare, and stood up. 

"Yes. Well. With regards to killing you, I fear I must consult with my companions first. They might have questions."

"...How do airbenders get information?" the guy asked, his face carefully blank, but not in a just-made-a-joke way.

So he'd heard that part. Great. That was… great. 

Sokka had the really weird urge to  _ reassure _ a firebender. He did not give in.

"Appa. Momo. Watch him."

Well. At least now the guy just looked confused.

%%%

The confused look got even more pronounced when Aang went all  _ Aang _ on him. Turns out you didn't need torture to get answers when you had an overly friendly twelve-year-old to throw at the problem. It probably helped that The Problem definitely had a concussion. 

"Hold still," Katara snapped, but more in an  _ irate mother _ way than the  _ I hate you on principle  _ one she'd started with. She was cleaning the blood off their prisoner's face and hair with a cloth. Their prisoner was wincing way more dramatically than Sokka would expect from someone with that many scars. 

As much as he hated to agree with Jet on anything, firebenders  _ did  _ have a pretty legendary pain tolerance. Allegedly. This was actually Sokka's first time meeting one that wasn't actively trying to kill him or his loved ones. Which was probably another point in the concussion's favor, because there was nothing 'alleged' about their bloodlust. He'd seen what they'd done to the South Pole. The stories from the Earth Kingdom were the same. And judging by the age of this guy and the benders who'd gotten away, the rumor that they joined their army as soon as possible so they could go play in places they were allowed to burn was completely true. 

"Sorry," the guy said. And continued flinching. And wincing. And generally being a pretty large baby about things. 

Aang continued his  _ relentlessly friendly  _ interrogation. "Do you live around here?"

"Uh, no? I'm stationed at the front. This is just a special assignment."

"Yeah, but where are you  _ from?"  _

Scar Guy was doing an accurate impression of Momo when holding something inedible and, therefore, completely incomprehensible. "What does it matter?  _ Oww." _

"Hold  _ still," _ Katara said, grabbing his arm.

Which led to the guy swearing in a really impressive manner. Katara rolled up his sleeve; underneath, the skin looked pretty red and going-to-blister-by-tomorrow-y. Which. Kind of made sense, considering Sokka had seen him wiggle those limbs all up in the face of explodey flames earlier in the day. 

"Why didn't you  _ say _ anything?" Katara groused.

"What does it  _ matter?"  _ the guy snapped back.

_ "Ugh. _ I'm going to ask Jet if they have anything for burns."

"They're not going to!" Scar Guy shouted after her. 

Which, yeah. They weren't going to have anything for  _ him.  _

"What's your name?" Aang asked. "How old are you?"

"It really doesn't matter," the guy said.

"If it doesn't matter," Sokka pointed out, "then it doesn't matter if you answer."

Their prisoner shrugged. And only answered one of those questions. "Sixteen. ...Are you really an air nomad?"

"Yeah! Have you met any others? I'm sure you travel a lot with your job."

'Job' was a really quaint way to put it, and Sokka thought the semi-desperate  _ Is-he-serious _ look the prisoner shot him implied complete agreement. 

"Yes. I mean no? I've been a lot of places. But no air nomads."

And there was Aang, wilting.

"But, uh. I don't really get to see a lot? Everything pretty much looks the same, when…"

"You're lighting it on fire?" Sokka finished.

The prisoner shrugged again. And turned to Sokka. "...Do you have any? Burns. From earlier."

"I am suspicious as to why you care. Does it, and I quote, matter?"

The guy seemed to have three primary expressions: overly dramatic baby, confused-by-enthusiastic-children, and scowl. He turned the last on Sokka. "You were standing next to my men. If you're fine, they're fine."

Sokka mulled this over. And decided, in a fit of benevolence, to let the guy have this. "Yeah, I'm fine. Good save."

Scar Guy's shoulders dropped. "Thanks."

"Yeah. So. That was a  _ lot _ of blasting jelly. Was there a plan for that…?"

"You seriously think they tell Kindling what the  _ plan _ is?"

Sokka hadn't heard that term before, but Aang sucked in a breath like someone had just dropped, like, thirty-two consecutive swears and/or skinned one particularly cute animal in front of him. 

"You're a sergeant," Sokka pressed.

"It's a nickname. Do I  _ look _ like a real sergeant?"

Having no idea about Fire Nation military structure besides 'there was a lot of it' and 'they gave themselves fancy titles', Sokka did not know the answer to that. But Jet had made it sound impressive. So. 

"Are you trying to play dumb, buddy? Really?"

Scar Guy looked him straight in the eyes. His deadpan was back. "If I had to guess," he said, "the plan was to blow something up. Possibly," he continued, "using blasting jelly."

Sokka ran a hand down his face.

Katara came stomping back. They were, according to Jet, fresh out of burn cream. 

%%%

Jet did not want the firebender anywhere near those flammable huts in his flammable tree town.

Aang did not share these concerns in so far as they regarded his flammable bison. 

So the firebender slept tucked between two of Appa's legs. He made it look about ten times more comfortable than it actually was. Speaking from experience.

Sokka poked him awake every few hours. Because concussion. (Also, a little bit, because  _ overly comfortable prisoner.)  _ The guy was a big grumbly baby about that, too. 

%%%

And then everything went to crap, because his baby sister and Aang were unable to connect 'guy willing to torture someone' with 'guy whose suggestions may not be of the highest moral standard.'

And Sokka was unable to connect 'guy who didn't want to be tortured and/or killed' with 'guy likely to give himself literal rope burn'.

To be fair, Sokka hadn't put together 'full reservoir' and 'Mouth-Grass Terrorist willing to blow up a dam', either. 

Also, and this was very important, Appa was a  _ really crappy  _ guard. 

They met again in the forest. It was an encounter neither of them had planned for nor particularly wanted. 

"How did you even get free?" Sokka shouted in a manner that in no way bordered on a whine.

"Blasting jelly loses its potency when it dries," Scar Guy said. And didn't point out his newly charred uniform sleeves or the fresh burns circling both his wrists.  _ There _ was the pain tolerance Sokka had been expecting. The jerkbender had just been hiding it yesterday, like a  _ jerk.  _

"I don't want to hurt you," the guy said, but he'd been in a fighting stance from the moment they locked eyes. Sokka was, too, but he was suddenly very aware of that whole  _ I've-killed-people  _ conversation they'd had yesterday. There wasn't anything boastful in the guy's tone. Just  _ I don't want to hurt you,  _ with a very clearly implied,  _ But if you twitch wrong I will. _

This situation could work though. Maybe. "Do you know your way to the town?" Sokka asked, which didn't seem to be at all the direction Scar Guy thought this conversation would go. "Jet's planning on blowing the dam with that blasting jelly. You can warn them. I'll try and stop—"

Their ex-prisoner was a teenager of action. Which Sokka could appreciate, if he wasn't  _ running the wrong way.  _

"Town is  _ that way!"  _

"What are  _ you _ going to do against an  _ explosion?" _

_ "I'll figure it out!"  _

%%%

Sokka really should have asked what the  _ firebender's  _ plan for dealing with explosions was. Because yelling at Sokka to shove barrels of blasting jelly off the top of the dam while the guy tried to put out fire arrows mid-fight—which still left  _ non-flaming arrows hitting all around them— _ was just. Not a plan. 

Though it did technically qualify as figuring things out.

"You're  _ crazy,"  _ Sokka panted, sliding down below the edge of the dam's wall, because the blasting jelly had all gone for a dive and he did  _ not _ want to learn how many more arrows Longshot had. 

"Yeah?" Scar Guy's tone had the audacity to imply both  _ This is a commonly known fact  _ and  _ And?  _

"You. Are  _ crazy."  _

The guy snorted. And also slid down the wall, which might have been due more to his general wobbliness than the arrow threat. Sokka was polite, and did not notice the way the other teenager pressed his forehead against his drawn up knees like he was trying to push his skull back in place, or how he was resting his kind of oozy-burned wrists in ways that didn't touch anything but air. So. Maybe  _ not _ with the high pain tolerance. Maybe just a  _ lot _ with the adrenaline. The adrenaline that was probably wearing off now. 

The guy shrugged under Sokka's continued not-a-stare, and said, like it explained everything: "It's almost my third year. Might as well, right?"

Sokka did not get to ask what  _ that _ was supposed to mean. Their dam heart-to-heart was cut short by running footsteps and shouting, and then he was getting hugged by his sister and Aang, one of whom was yelling about how  _ stupid _ that had been while the other mouthed a quiet 'that was  _ so cool'  _ behind her back. 

The firebender had tensed as they ran up. And swore once, but with great feeling. Now he was just sort of… sitting there. Looking like he could use another few hours sleeping on Appa or, barring that, five minutes to breathe before he did something else crazy. 

Sokka was again struck with the urge to  _ reassure _ the firebender.

"Hey. You realize you're not our prisoner anymore, right?"

His gold eyes were still very much creepy and too-bright and unnatural outside of a select class of predatory mammals and/or birds. They could also get  _ really wide.  _ The burned one not so much, but an effort was clearly made, and Sokka respected that. 

"...What?"

"Do you know how much of a pain keeping a prisoner on bison-back would be? Not to mention the extra weight. You would  _ literally  _ just be slowing us down. Plus we're leaving the area, so. Doesn't really matter if you tattle on us." Sokka said. "So you can just... shoo."

"...Shoo," the guy repeated. "You're just… letting me go. Alive. When I know your faces. And I know  _ he's _ the Avatar. You're  _ letting me go." _

"You should really stop talking, buddy," Sokka advised.

The firebender looked between all of them. Katara seemed vaguely offended that the guy didn't trust them. Aang seemed mildly concerned that the guy had apparently been assuming this would end with his own murder. Which was a good point actually, because if he'd been assuming that and he'd  _ still  _ dropped his escape attempt to run back and help— Well. Apparently not  _ every  _ ashmaker liked to see entire towns wiped off the map. Or maybe he'd just been trying to save his own guys. That would hurt Sokka's head a little less.

"I'll, uh." The guy cleared his throat. "I'll play up the concussion. I'll only tell them what I have to. But I've never met this commander, he might… you should assume they'll have your descriptions." 

"Really," Sokka said, through a smile that wasn't a smile. "Stop talking." 

The firebender did not stop talking. 

_ "Why?  _ No one just lets Kindling go. The Earth Kingdom, the Water Tribes, they— And we—" His gaze shifted to Aang. "Your people—"

Aang's smile wasn't really a smile, either. "It was a hundred years ago.  _ You _ didn't do anything. And even if you had, I would forgive you. That's how the air nomads were.  _ Are." _

"You're crazy," the guy said, because apparently his bar for crazy was higher than  _ Stand next to blasting jelly while flames were raining down,  _ but lower than  _ Accept forgiveness from a monk for things he hadn't done.  _

"What's your name?" Aang asked.

"...Zuko," the firebender said. "I'm Zuko."

**Author's Note:**

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